What Lies Beneath Your Emotions – Reaction Formation

“People have motives and thoughts of which they are unaware.” ~Albert Ellis

What if you hated someone who you were socially and morally expected to love? For instance, what if you felt hate for your sibling, child or spouse? These feelings, if openly expressed and acknowledged, would be reprehensible to you. According to the theory of reaction formation, these feelings that we fear and deny will cause our unconscious to exaggerate the opposite of what we are feeling in order to avoid feeling anxiety.

Reaction formation is an ego defense mechanism. One of Sigmund Freud’s concepts, which is still relevant today, is that of psychological defense mechanisms. Freud developed the idea of the defense mechanism from his belief in the Id, Ego and Superego. Freud believed that humans are driven to avoid tension and feelings of anxiety that arise when there is a conflict between the Id and the Ego. As a result of the conflict that threatens how we view ourselves, we seek to diminish unpleasant feelings through unconscious defense mechanisms.

In the case of reaction formation, the thought of hating one’s sibling, child or spouse would cause one much anxiety and internal conflict. The reaction (impulses and emotions), in this case, hate, is not acceptable and will cause our ego to have anxiety. In order to prevent this, we will try to avoid the feared emotion by engaging in its opposite. Essentially, the true feeling is masked in the exaggerated opposite feeling in order to avoid internal conflict and anxiety. The idea is that the rejected impulse (hate) will exist undeveloped in our subconscious and the resulting emotion does not substitute the hate, it merely masks it.

Freud postulated that our instincts are arranged in pairs. For example, life vs death, action vs passivity, love vs hate and construction vs destruction. In the case of hate, in order to avoid feeling anxiety over how we truly feel, we respond by engaging in an overflow of love to conceal the hostility. Love, in this case, will become an exaggerated performance. An example of this is the mother who bears an unwanted child. The mother will become extremely solicitous and overprotective to convince both herself and the child that she is a good mom and does indeed love her child.

The love that arises from the defense mechanism of reaction formation is not based on real emotion. It is love that sprouts as a reaction to our initial feelings of hate. As such, it is a love that is exaggerated, showy, inflexible and compulsive. It is a love that cannot adapt to changing circumstances as genuine emotions. It is a love that must be constantly on display as if any lapse in the performance will cause the real and contrary emotion to display itself.

Some other examples of reaction formation are as follows:

1. Displaying high ideals of virtue and goodness may be reaction formation against primitive urges

2. Altruism may mask selfishness

3. Piety may mask sinfulness

4. A phobia may mask a person’s desires

5. Stockholm syndrome is an example of hate masking as love

The concept of reaction formation may be difficult to grasp or identify completely. It is an effective defense mechanism that can be disguised in many ways. Essentially, the defense mechanism of reaction formation causes you to express the opposite of your inner feelings through your outward behavior. Your subconscious will choose to express emotions that it deems safe in order to avoid anxiety. Many of us engage in this behavior without being aware of why we act in a certain way. Please note, this is a psychoanalytic theory and is not meant to apply to all situations. I would love to hear about your thoughts and/or experiences with this defense mechanism known as reaction formation.

The thoughts expressed in this blog post are my own and are not meant to create a therapeutic relationship with the reader nor are they meant to be used for self-diagnosis. This write up is not all-inclusive and is meant to provoke curiosity on the subject. This blog does not replace or substitute the help of a mental health professional.

Please note, I am unable to answer your specific mental health or psychology related questions as I am not fully aware of all of the circumstances.

Kindly,
Dr. Perry

CREDENTIALSPh.D. in Clinical PsychologyM.A. in Clinical PsychologyB.A. in Psychology

PRIVATE COACHING“My mission is to provide you with solutions and insights to help you achieve your goals in a way that fits your lifestyle and your timeline.” ~Dr. Perrywww.WORLDWIDELIFECOACHING.com

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Nice article, in the context of religious organizations I have witnessed ”Piety may mask sinfulness” my observations span decades and I am convinced, the holly and more ” piety, ” expressed the greater the issue..

A number of years ago I was told to give what I hoped to receive and act the way I wanted to be treated. Your post has me pondering this concept a bit deeper and from a varied perspective. Thought provoking, indeed, Dr. Perry. Thank you for sharing!

Such an interesting piece Dr Perry!!! Personally, I am trying to deal with this utmost contempt for my oldest sibling. There are days I feel it borders on hate- but, because society in general says we aren’t supposed to feel that way towards family- I try to bury my feelings. I am finding though, that the more I bury it and try to act as though I love this sibling- the more the contempt is actually growing.

This is a very interesting post. It has me doing a little soul searching. It also reminds me of the antagonists in Lifetime movies. With that being said, how can the affected person recognize when someone is walking in reaction formation? Sooner or later the truth is bound to come out. I think I’d like to know sooner rather than later.

Very interesting Doctor. I have always thought that really having angry or hateful thoughts towards another meant that you had to have feelings for that person to start with. I don’t think hating anyone is a healthy thing to do ever but than I try to focus on the positive in people. Extremely interesting post Doctor and very thought provoking. Thank you.

Intriguing!! Honestly, I have a similar relationship with my sibling. Since our childhood we’ve had a rocky relationship. When we fought, I’d have a really scary moment afterwards where I’d think, “I really just hate him,” and then automatically feel like I needed to compensate for that emotion, cause I felt it was wrong. And I never understood why I never truly felt better!
I’ve always felt a really uncomfortable mix of guilt and confusion, and you’ve just helped me understand these emotions and how I should change my way of thinking. Thank you very much!!

Interesting topic. I’d never heard of this before. I don’t think I’ve ever done this before. I went through a period where I disliked my brother. But I never pretended to like him. I just dealt with the anxiety. I truly disrespected him and avoided him mostly.

I see this in action all the time in the teaching community. Teachers who are literally victimised by students develop an overt attachment to those students. It’s happened to me personally… strangely comforting to have a syndrome to attach to it.

Thanks for all the inspiring words and informative posts. I also wanted to let you know that I nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award. Congrats! You deserve it! No worries if you don’t have time to write an award post. Have a great week!

Thank you for sharing Dr. Perry. At times, I couldn’t understand the love-hate relationship with my siblings. It feels weird to hate them because they are related (by blood) with us. Even we are upset, we are required to portray the best attitude towards family members, ie forgiving, patience, supportive. Probably it’s also due to family value taught by parents, and we were not taught to acknowledge how we feel all the time, simple reason because life doesn’t just revolve around us.

I can see how this plays out. I for one was brought up to suppress primitive urges and now I KNOW my primitive urges are real and what shapes me. Therefore, I’m into the arts: acting, dancing, painting, writing. That is where I find myself. Or rather, the energy that shapes me. I like to know that I’m not one entity but an organic organism that moves with the people I’m with and the environment I’m in.

Thank you for sharing the insightful article. It interesting to read that ‘anxiety and internal conflict’ can lead to hate. For many years I had a strong emotional dislike for my mother. Part of me felt justified to do so – but at the same time I felt ashamed of myself. It is only after I made a decision to forgive myself and everybody everything, that today I love her.

Hi Dr. Perry,
This is mind-bending stuff! I know you can’t answer personal questions for liability reasons, but this sounds much like the love-bombing phase that is part of the narcissistic abuse pattern/dynamic. I’ve been love bombed by many of my abusers over the years; parents, spouse and child, and although I’m able to spot it more readily now, sadly… after reading this… I’m now not sure if I’ve ever been loved? I was going to ask you to write an article about how to know the difference between love and love-bombing, and the answer just appeared… there’s no abuse. Bingo. Eye-opening!

Such an interesting post. I’ve never heard of reaction formation, but can now pick a part pieces of my own behavior that align with it. My family was very religious when I was growing up. And similar to a good chuck of people who follow religion, we had a host of skeletons in the closet. Our desire to do good wasn’t as pure as I’d like to believe.

As someone who has only recently started self-reflecting, I found this very thought-provoking; it immediately made me think of situations in which I’d consciously done this, but not really thought about the reasons. I always just assumed that I was making a conscious decision to be nice to someone when I knew I was annoyed with them because I knew that a situation might not be wholly their fault, yet I did not think that I was trying to avoid the anxiety I’d feel at hurting that person or possibly even losing them as a friend. This has really encouraged me to reflect a little deeper on the decision I make when it comes to reacting and not assume that my immediate instincts about the reasons are the right ones. And reasons are important…

I find this topic quite relevant to a situation I experienced today. First, I am in treatment for substance abuse and live in a sober house with four other men, which means shared kitchen and dinning. I would consider myself mindful of others and say I clean up after myself. Yet, I find myself building resentments toward people when they do not clean up after themselves. This is naturally an uncomfortable feeling. Sometimes, I am understanding and clean up after them and it doesn’t affect my mood so much but other times I clean up after them and it does. Take today, I went beyond what I normally do and went on a mini cleaning frenzy. In hind sight and after reading your article I would say I was doing these actions to ease the resentment I felt. This was an enjoyable read.

Fascinating topic. I always enjoy your blogs. I’ve certainly seen what appears to be reaction formation in other people. It seems like a good exercise for all of us to evaluate ourselves to see where this might be at play in ourselves.

This mechanism seems like a type of social conformity. It would be interesting to know if this impulse is innate or happens as the result of internalized social conditioning.

I am glad to see some psychoanalytic theory coming up in the feed. I’m a psych student and it’s too often dismissed…

The more self-aware I have become, the less I believe I am using defence mechanisms such as reaction formation as I am aware of the process and I catch myself in action and change it. But, then again, I wonder if I can ever truly become so self-aware that I only use constructive defence mechanisms such as sublimation (turning a negative into a positive).

Dr. Perry, imagine my surprise at 3 am when your ‘like’ popped up. I almost drowned in the too small tub! Seriously , I throughly enjoyed your article. Have always been fascinated with emotional disorders…used to have a job demying people ss benefits…And I know I can find my picture on one of those case studies in the Encyclopedia of disorders I used to keep on my desk. Looking forward to learning more.

Well done using examples to discuss reaction formation. It makes sense that distressing thoughts have some sort of mechanism to minimize them. Reaction formation seems to be one way that people can avoid distressing thoughts. I am now more curious about other ways that people can avoid these.

Solved a doubt in my mind reading this article.The person I know usually hides behind painful emotions by being extremely aggressive.Thanks a lot for sharing coz now knowing his true feelings I might be able to help him.Thanks once again

Wow. That’s a whole lot of great information on this topic. My brother (a veterinarian), while he was still in school, once told me that he was taught never to trust your emotions (in logical decisions). We were both, much younger, and I didn’t believe him. Isaac Asimov said, emotions will save your life when you don’t have time to do it by reasoning, and, I’d agree (fight or flight). Well, I suppose I could go on and on and on forever so I’ll stop here. Thanks for a great article!

Hi,
Your posts are interesting. Mental distress is something which is very common now and there is a greater need to address people dealing with such issues. Your posts are helpful. I am not a professional but yes have enough experience now to address some concerns and offer guidance.

Seems to me that the thought of going against the “status quo” – what our culture teaches us we should and shouldn’t be thinking and doing -encompasses a certain amount of anxiety in all cases (at least initially). It’s a walk into the unknown causing conflict within the self. Nice post!

As a regular performer I believe the motivation to be on stage can be such a reaction to actual shyness. The stage offers a mask, actually a fake situation where one appears (to others but more importantly to oneself) to be brave, in control, confident. The truth is that an audience conspires with a performer by remaining mostly silent and there is actually no true conversation happening.

human mind is fascinating and at the same time terrifying. thanks doc! this is a wonderful piece of writing.
the words “Altruism may mask selfishness ” – i’m understanding now! it’s an amazing concept that you put in wonderful words. it deserves so much appreciations !!!

Hi Dr Perry! I’m so glad I discovered your blog – these are concepts and theories I’m only scratching the surface of (just finishing level 2 Counselling, all being well finishing levels 3 and 4 by July 2021, by which time I’ll be qualified to practice) and this is all so fascinating. 👌

Wow, reading your blog is like a breath of fresh air. Offering information for free that could change the way people think is true altruism. I’m sure that you are a very busy person so taking time out to help others is great and greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

Sadly I have seen parents put their energy into being upstanding members in the community only to find out years later the abuse some of their children experienced from their hand. Makes me suspicious now when I see someone work ‘too’ hard at being upstanding in the community. It’s a warped version of the catholic idea of doing penance.

There is a lot of truth in this. Piety to mask sinfulness because by nature we err continually. If a person who believes in morals and higher power acts so, he masks his sinfulness through piety. Personally, I can perhaps relate somewhat to masking primitive urges through virtue, and selfishness through altruism perhaps.
I can’t say that in case of feelings of love and anger I have felt that there is a reaction formation.
Maybe at some moments of anger which are uncontrollable and have to be masked or brought under control. Very thought provoking

You’ve got quite an interesting perspective of the reaction formation.
Sometimes I know that I must fulfill my obligation and while trying to continue despite hurt or anger, I feel the masking effect that you described.
Sometimes it just takes opening up and addressing the trigger of the initial emotion.
It is more difficult when the issue is with someone who does not naturally cooperate.
Lovely post!